PRACTICE METHODS THAT OPTIMIZE YOUR TIME
by Richard Prokop
On a purely
technical level, a piece of music offers us this unique challenge: "Play me
from the beginning to the end without making a mechanical or mental
error." Implicit in the phrase "without making a mechanical or mental
error" is the idea that you will train yourself to play all the notes and
rhythms of the piece strictly in time (and preferably from memory) prior to
attempting interpretive nuances of a more refined and subjective nature. You will then have established a solid
foundation to which you can always return to build upon (or deviate from) - one
that ensures that you are capable of being in total control for the duration of
the piece. However, this is no small order. The methods below will help to
bring you closer to this goal.
METHOD 1
Work on mastering smaller sections of the piece with the
ultimate aim of linking them together to form increasingly larger structures of
completion. Let us refer to the beginning point of a small section as
"A" and the ending point of that same section as "B".
Developing the
ability to play from point A to point B with total
control is one of the
most important concepts to understand and utilize. Having the experience of
complete control provides you with a psychological edge, a feeling of power
over the piece that you are playing. Having the recollection of playing from A
to B without making a mistake provides you with a certainty that you are capable of
doing it correctly. I term this a beneficial memory, as opposed to a
detrimental memory (one with numerous stops and rhythmical errors between
points A and B).
It is important
to understand that the distance from A to B can be of any length. It can be one
measure. It can be half a measure. It can be two beats if necessary. The
critical factor is that you train yourself to go the distance without making a
mistake, ensuring a sound foundation and beneficial memory.
It is also
important to understand that the distance from Point A to Point B can be played
at any speed. Playing at one half or one third of the
performance tempo will still provide you with a beneficial memory of a complete
and mechanically perfect event even though it is experienced at a slower speed.
Speed, for the
most part, is an illusion. In a very fast passage, the individual fingers are
firing in sequence very quickly. However, they do not necessarily play that
often.
Ex.1
In the example
above, the fifth finger is simply doing the following on the second and fourth
beats of each measure:
Ex.2
To a beginning
or intermediate level student, this would appear to be an easy task. However,
if in Ex.1, the student attempted to play at the speed of twelve sixteenth
notes per second, then the precise moment of time afforded to the playing of
the fifth finger (or any other finger in the example) would be one twelfth of a
second. (This is also true if Ex.2 was attempted.) Therefore, the misfiring of
the fifth finger by as little as one tenth of a second would have an adverse
effect on the proper realization of the entire passage. To an experienced
listener, the passage might sound uneven. To the student, a vague sense of
physical awkwardness might prevail with the source of the discomfort being
difficult to identify. In order, then, to feel comfortable while playing Ex.1,
it is essential for the fifth finger to fire at a precise moment
in time without the
slightest amount of stress or drag. The ability to do this successfully is
primarily a function of the finger's extensor muscle that performs the bulk of
the work when a finger fires. Extensor muscles are optimally developed by slow,
synchronized practice. Extreme patience is required during this process. It
takes millions of synchronized repetitions before a finger can play quickly and
lightly at a precise moment without stress.
Test to see
whether your slow practice is working by occasionally playing a passage up to
speed. Lack of success at a faster speed indicates that many more sessions of
slow practice are required.
METHOD 2
Analyze the chord changes of the piece and write them
above the staff each time the harmony changes.
Then, memorize
the chord changes so that you are able to verbalize them along with a recording
of the piece. If this step is too difficult, train yourself to say the chord
changes as you play through the piece. Do this over and over until it is
fluent.
BENEFITS OF
METHOD 2
I learned the
above technique while studying jazz. Jazz players routinely commit the melody
and the chord changes of the tunes they are playing to memory. This provides
the player with an unshakable foundation upon which an improvisation can then
be realized. An accomplished improviser is able to play a tune at a slow or
fast tempo and is able to carry the tune through an array of different styles
depending on the taste of the other musicians with whom he/she is playing.
Simply put, a strong foundation gives you more freedom of expression which in
turn contributes to your ability to play with more spontaneity during a
performance. In addition, having this newfound knowledge about the piece you
are playing eradicates an unnecessary layer of anxiety that would otherwise be
present during a performance.